Electrical connectors are used in conjunction with various electrical devices from computers to portable media players. The required type of connector varies greatly, but usually depends on the application, (e.g. audio signal, data transfer, power, etc.). As necessitated by advancement of technology and the requirements of specific devices, a wide variety of connectors can be used depending on the intended use and/or requirements of specific manufacturers.
With the tremendous increase in demand for ultra-thin devices, designers find a new challenge of accommodating technical needs, based on existing hardware. The standardization and miniaturization of electrical connectors, in particular of some input and/or output ports, have been developed with technology progression. Yet there are still limitations in size when trying to incorporate such ports into ultra-thin devices.
For many designers and product developers, the solution is to minimize the number of ports and utilize wireless technology for data transfers. However, this poses a problem to the heavy user who may need to connect multiple peripheral devices or wish to transfer large files. A multi-port adapter may be used to accommodate additional peripherals, but this may be a limited solution if a device has only one universal port that must also be used for power.